Summary Of The Book 'Engaged Observer' By Aida Hernandez Castillo

Francisco worked hard everyday of his illegal life. He worked hard by going to school and helps his parents in the field to provide them with food and shelter for their current living conditions. He made me learn that you have to work and be dedicated to what you want to get what you want.

Nowadays many students from my country Brazil consider the opportunity of studying abroad in another country. I am a student athlete from Brazil and I am living my dream of attaining college in the United States. The idea of living in a foreign country, where you will encounter different places, make new friends, and live a different way of life, sounds exciting and fun at the beginning, but those expectations are not always met. The story “Always living in Spanish” is about a Chilean girl who loves her country. However, due to the violent environment, Marjorie and her family decide to go to America, hoping to live a safer life. Many foreign students, such as Marjorie in “Always Living in Spanish”, experience difficulty integrating in another society because they have difficulty expressing themselves in that society´s language. This issue also evolves problems in adapting to another culture and living a normal daily life.

Throughout history, women have faced with a plethora of challenges that called for them to transcend society’s limitations. One of these situations was the challenges presented by the terrible living and factory conditions in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire took the lives of 146 immigrant women and devastated New York; and due to the theft-preventative measures of locking the doors to the factory, owner, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck led to even more lives being lost. This situation, although terrible, was not that uncommon. As these immigrant women arrived in the United States, there would be a typical and similar experience among many; one that started with the problems offered upon arrival,

To begin with, Sacrificing Families by Leisy J. Abrego, draws on the narratives of many Salvadorian families to tell the stories on how illegality and gender shape their lives. In Chapter five, Abrego accurately captures the gender roles of immigrant parents in transnational families. Abrego makes it clear that there are inequalities between genders, men have always been privileged individuals, and regardless of the work, they make more money when compared to women. Through her interviews Abrego provides evidence for the structural reality of gender-stratified opportunities and the gender roles that benefit men and constrain women. According to Abrego, “For women, the three most common occupational sectors were domestic, garment and hotel house-keeping work (102). With this we can see that how the occupations of women are tied to their gender roles. Women are supposed to stay at home, clean the house, and nurture.

The Virgin of El Barrio by Kristy Nabhan-Warren is an ethnography about modern Mexican-American Catholicism and the apparitions of Estela Ruiz and the community that supports her. Throughout the text, Nabhan-Warren focuses on the intersectionality between Catholicism, ethnicity, gender, and community and the success of this grassroots model of Catholicism. Her fieldwork was done in Phoenix, Arizona, initially for three and a half months (although she continues to maintain a relationship with the Ruiz) (Nabhan-Warren, 16), and took place in Mary's home, their backyard shrine, and other properties owned and used by the family's organizations.

Critical Lens Essay - Annotated Bibliography Curren, Erik D. "Should their eyes have been watching God?: Hurston's use of religious experience and gothic horror. " African American Review. Vol. 29.

Although immigrant women play a big role in America’s society and economy, they have been constantly mistreated and looked down upon throughout history. Not only do they face the burden of the stratifications that their gender entails but they also struggle to adopt the American culture and norms. America was viewed as the land of opportunities and economic prosperity, a perspective that draws in many immigrant women who were willing to leave their families and possessions to come to this foreign country in hopes of a better life. In America, they faced many challenges as they not only had to work long hours but also took care of their families and do housework as well. They struggled to make a standard living out of low wage jobs and assimilating into America’s society. Today, the treatment of immigrant women has improved greatly as they have stood together and fought for their rights. Immigrant women have built communities and held strikes for better pay and treatment. Although America has made great strides in improving treatment of immigrant women, there is still social injustice. Immigrant women have come a long way from the first time they entered America until now, but their stories are often left untold and omitted from American history.

Alvarez's attitude about her and her family being different changes throughout the story when a series of events happen and change her perspective on her and her family’s names. In the beginning of the text Julia is not happy about how people pronounce her name. They say Judy or Julia (J-oo-l-ee-a). She finds it frustrating that people couldn’t pronounce any of her families name right because they were hispanic. “It took me awhile to get used to my new names. I wondered if I shouldn’t correct my teachers and new friends. But my mother argued that it didn’t matter. “You know what your friend Shakespeare said, ‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’.” My family had gotten into the habit of calling any famous author “my friend” because I had begun to write poems and stories in English class. (Alvarez)” Julia wanted to correct her teachers and friends but didn’t because it would not change that it was her. She was tired of people getting her name wrong so much just because it was from another culture. Julia Alvarez wanted to have people call her the name that was given to her from the

is routine work, little glory, and low pay, men prove willing to admit women to equal share in the spoils office ”. Once they gained more political influence, women were eager “to continue the reforms of the Progressive era” . Called by the scholars as “maternalistic” approach, women sought to improve the conditions of poor women and children. They lobbied with a success for “education and industrial reform, wage and hour laws for working women, a wide range of child health problems on the state level, as well as a broad extension of women’s legal rights” .

“Branded with Infamy” draws one into the challenges that poor women and children face every day (Adair). Stricken with poverty leaves women and children that are already suffering, forced to suffer more, which Adair brings up in this article when she’s talking about her mother having to work twice as hard to be discipline for her husband walking out on her (Adair, 236). The article “Enforcing the Work Ethic” has more of a focus on the welfare system for poor women and children (Hays). This article addresses the issues of how mothers are forced to find a job right away and when they are unable to meet all the requirements the welfare system is requesting then they end up losing their welfare forcing them and their children to live without

In Sonia Nazario’s book, Enrique’s Journey, Enrique rides on top of slow-moving railroad cars in hopes of reaching his mother, who left him at a very young age to find work in the United States. Most of the immigrants in the book are fleeing because they are trying to escape poverty, but it does not go into a lot of depth about how drug wars play a big role in immigration. The persistent violent behavior in Mexico executed by drug cartels, caused a generous amount of Mexican natives to flee to the United States looking for refuge. Even with the United States’ collaboration in Mexico’s government to crackdown on drug trafficking organizations, violence continues to rise. Not only does violence cause immigration, but the corruption of local

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly", was once said by Antoine De Saint-Exupery. This is an accurate quote to live by and refer to daily since following your instincts is usually the best decision for yourself. It leads you to do exactly what you want to do, instead of anyone getting to your mindset. This quote can also be shown in literature-characters go through hardships within there own minds. But when a third party expresses their own opinion of the problem then the character becomes confused and eventually withdrawled from what they really want. Accordingly, two works of literature that best show how following your heart(mind) is the better decision would be Tennesse Williams play The Glass

Namely, many Latin American women seeking employment often find work in the informal economy. In the informal economy, they have the options of choosing work such as domestic labor, street vending, or an employee in the maquiladoras. These types of jobs are not always valuable as the working conditions are unsafe and the pay rate is inconsistent. If given the chance, however, Latin American women may have the chance to join the formal economy by finding employment in commerce, education, health or entrepreneurship. Within the formal economy, these women can have job security, protection from workplace abuse, and a steady income. Given these facts, the workforce is strongly male dominated and will continue to do so. Unless politicians in Latin American effectively handle discrimination of women in their economical debates, how will they succeed like their male

Sonia Sanchez taught me that it’s possible to not let my pain hold me from being the best that I can be. She taught me to take my past full of pain, make it great and use the talents that I have now to change this planet and become a creator of social values. I learned to have an unshakeable strength, a persevering courage and to be a fighter. I learned that I am capable of achieving the greatest things if I put my mind to it. How well I do is in my hands not in a past that can drag me down. Just like Sonia asked her teacher if she had any talent, and the teacher answered saying: “Yes, you have talent, now let’s see whether you are going to do anything with it”. She answered to the call and I am determined to answer the call too. She changed

In every country in Latin America and the Caribbean, women suffer acute discrimination. Often, the discrimination women face is related to social prejudices regarding appropriate patterns of conduct for men and women. This entrenched sex inequality provides the backdrop for the pervasive and widespread human rights violations women face in the region, with little chance of justice. The most pernicious types of women's human rights abuses in the Americas occur in the areas of women's reproductive and sexual health and rights, discrimination and violence against women in the workplace, and violence against women in the home. After decades of dictatorships in some countries, democracy has not meant an end to impunity for violations of women